Cave crawl, hack and slash, explosions, and the Dwarf

Eventually come to a large it where explosions are coming from. Thantalus fireballs room with necklace. Large explosion. Kills goblins.

Go back to room, still more above pit.

Goblins, Goblin Dogs, Goblin Archers, and a Bugbear.

Win battle. (Fireball + Sleep + Daze, Hack and Slash)

Meet Gilder Ironsmith a captive dwarf crafter. Notes these caves are on the other side of the hill and this area is close to connecting with where Mithral was found. Goblins trying to blow way through to other side.

Goblins seem to be lead by a Barghast named Malfeshnekor. Malfeshnekor is holding his grandchildren captive.

Gilder also knows where the key to a ancient Dwarven Archive of smithing and smelting recipes are, along with an ancient elemental forge, used by his ancestors.

Gilder is a highly proficient smith and knows how to work mithral, which is why Malfeshnekor is holding Gilder’s family hostage. Gilder is worried about the goblins that got away and what Malfeshnekor will do if he finds out he has been set free.

In exchange for helping Gilder, he offers the key, location of archive, and 2 years of work as a dedicated crafter.

A rumor of mithral, explosions in the mines, and a night encounter

Speak to Ilimara. Ilimara claims Kassen left alone and had to talk to someone about a major new find in the mines. Ilimara thinks the miner’s guild might be involved and they are currently denying her the ability to run the mine. She can’t find any real maps to the mines, but tels the Winsome Parade about Kassen’s routine.

Along with two of Ilimara’s house guard, the Winsome Parade travels to Kassen’s mines. Along the road, a carriage with a broken wheel is on the size of the road and the passenger and driver are replacing the wheel.

The team stops to help out, while Thantalus steels the passengers bag.

The passenger and driver head off without notice.

They arrive at mines and return the bag to the miner, in hopes they will introduce them to one of Kassen’s workers, that may know more about what happened. The plan works and they meet up later on.

However, while waiting Schmeldrik wanders off into the mines. Thantulus tries to catch up with him to get him back out. While still near the entrance, an explosion in the mind occurs. Everyone gets out ok, but the area is covered with dirt and dust.

Later they talk to Kassen’s worker to find out more. They learn that mithral has been found in the mines, but Kassen was worried about what the find would do to the town. Especially if the Dath were to find out about the mithral. They are worried that Cairnroch’s current liberties and culture would be destroyed as the Dath would come in larger force and authority to secure the claim and further feed its war machine. He also talks of another faction or power grab within the miner’s guild that might be shipping the mithral somewhere else.

They learn that there is a picked scheduled for tomorrow night and make plans to follow it.

They head back to town, but stay at a Inn halfway between the mines and town, where Kassen may have stopped by. The bartender sounds a bit tentative to reveal anything of note and clearly rejects a payoff of only 1gp. While sleeping in the inn that night, Darius is surprised to wake up to a man try to stab him. After a couple quick wounds to Darius, the masked man tries to run away. As he turns, Darius slashes him with his sword, felling him.

Outside, three more masked figures on horse shoot flaming arrows through the windows, but quickly take off once they notice they have been discovered.

The team finds the inn has no other occupants, yet no blood or bodies are present either.

The Parade makes it back to Cairnroch that morning and informs Ilimara of what they learned so far.

They discover that the person they killed in the inn was a newer member of the miners guild and just arrive in town a couple months ago. No one really knew much about him.

The team heads back up to the mines and scheduled pickup the next day. Following a cart lead by some men, they find the men handing off the cart to a group of six goblins. After following the goblins for a while, then attack and kill the goblins, though two get away. They don’t find any mithral on the cart, but did see that one of the ones that got away did grab something out of the cart before running.

Following the goblin trail, they find a cave guarded by a couple goblins further down the trail.

3 pelts, 3 gold, and one man down.

A group of bounty hunters, locally referred to now as the Winsome Parade, have recently collected bounty for the removal of three wolves from the local woodlands. This effort further increases the safety of our community and is greatly appreciated. The watch has decided to further encourage continued success and has posted a bonus reward of 20 gold pieces for every ten wolves slain. This reward is in addition to the existing one gold piece per wolf.

The effort conducted by the Winsome Parade also reinforced the dangers these wolves bring. Once under the tutelage of Choult Oengus, the local sage, Schmeldrick was nearly killed by the vicious beasts. Caught by surprise and under the light of their campfire, Schmeldrick was blind sided and wounded. Fortunately, his companions came to his aide and killed the wolf before the wolf was able to deliver the final blow.

A small job for the teamsters and a "Grim" encounter.

Hearing word through ‘Dig’ that the teamsters union is looking for help dealing with the local highwaymen, Grimscar’s White Caps, the Winsome Parade decides to take up a contract with the Teamster’s Guild.

For 100gp, the Winsome Parade is tasked to guard a caravan down to the town of ?Eirsloch? and back.

During preparation and loading, Schmeldrik suspects the caravan is being watched by a man on a horse. The horseman seems to move on when he caught Schmeldrik’s eye.

The first day down the road goes without issue.

Near mid-morning on the second day, the caravan is ambushed by four horsemen. It is clear that the horsemen seek to steal from the caravan without injury, but a missed shot of Thantalus startles the horsemen who then engage in a fight.

One horseman is killed ion the fight, one runs away, one surrenders, and one is knocked unconscious, but soon recovers.

When pushed the one that surrendered, claims the highwaymen are holed up in some ruins a half day to the northeast. When the other recovers, he claims they are camped in some caves near the mines to the northwest. Neither can or are willing to describe who Grimscar is, but both seem to relate that his intentions are just, from their perspective at least.

The with new horses and two captives in tow, the Winsome Parade heads towards the Ruins.

They find a trail and quickly find they are being watched by bowmen in ‘nests’ in the trees. As the trail continues they come to an outcropping of rocks, where they are met by four men on horses, four more on foot, and the archers still at their backs.

One of them, seeing to be the leader of this group, calls for them to stop. He continues to defend the efforts of the highwaymen and their efforts to collect tolls from the caravans heading in and out of Cairnroch. His defense includes an arming and funding of a new militia to help in driving the Dath out of Cree lands. He claims they are against the Dath and that the issue with the mines and Ilimara’s husband, Kassen’ are related to something the Dath is doing. They also claim that Kassen is already dead.

The Winsome Parade release the captives and head back to town.

When Thantalus and Schmeldrik attempt to claim pay for the escort, the guild clerk claims they did not finish the job but eventualyl settles on paying them 50g.

Teamsters Guild Needs Help Dealing with Excessive "Tolls"

The Teamster’s Guild has been looking for help dealing with some of the local highwaymen. Grimscar’s White Caps, aka The Toll Road Authority, have self imposed themselves as a toll collector on the roads and rivers leading in and out of Cairnroch. The local militia, lead by Sheriff Gerofin, seem either uninterested or unable to deal with the situation.

The White Caps don’t collect from every caravan that passes through, but the tolls are frequent enough that it has caused the Teamster’s Guild much grief, and money, over the last few months. A few of the man have been severely beaten, when they resisted paying the toll. The White Caps have become so bold as to frequent Ciarnroch wearing white hats, harassing and bullying locals, and in some cases finding new recruits in desperate young men looking for better wages than the local work can provide.

The Teamster’s Guild doesn’t seem to be too open with what they mean by help. There hasn’t been a public notice about help, but Barkeep Silvers of The Brewery and Dig Waymare have been passing word on to hopefuls, out of respect for the Guild. They have said that those interested in helping should seek out Golfond Kir at the Teamster’s Guildhall.

5,000 gp Reward for the Return of the Missing Kassen Oniri

Ilimara Oniri’s husband has gone missing. Her husband, Kassen, is the owner of the Kassen Mining Company, the third largest mining company in Cairnroch. According to Ilimara, Kassen left to inspect Mine K8. Gorum Iggins, Mine K8’s foremen, claims Kassen never arrived. Ilimara has asked for help from Captain Ethelward and he claims to be investigating, but she is concerned he doesn’t have the resources to conduct a proper one.

The Miner’s Guild has appointed Gregor Wisslo to oversee the operations of the Kassen Mining Company, until more information regarding Kassen’s whereabouts is known. Ilimara has voiced her displeasure at this appointment.

Ilimara Oniri posted a notice on the boards at The Brewery, and other local taverns, offering a bounty of 5,000 gold pieces to anyone that can find and return her husband to her.

Sheriff Gerofin promptly removed the notices and has reminded the people of Cairnroch that vigilantism will not be tolerated, noting it carries a 500 gold piece fine and/or up to 3 months in jail, in addition to the penalties associated with any other crimes conducted during the act. Finally, he has expressed that any individuals interested in assisting with the investigation need to speak with Captain Ethelward.

Mine K8 is a 2 hour coach ride, or a 4 hour hike, to the north east of Cairnroch.

While the trails are known to be fairly safe, cold weather, bandits, snow goblins, wolves, yeti, and the rare troll, have been cause for casualties throughout the years.